# Is "The Hive" by Camilo José Cela (trans. J. M. Cohen with Arturo Barea) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Hive by Camilo José Cela (trans. J. M. Cohen with Arturo Barea) (Victor Gollancz, London / Farrar, Straus & Young, New York, 1953) is identified by: First English edition appeared in 1953, translated by J. True first of the work is the Spanish 'La colmena' (Emecé, Buenos Aires, 1951 — first published in Argentina owing to Spanish censorship).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English edition appeared in 1953, translated by J. M. Cohen (with Arturo Barea) and carrying Arturo Barea's introduction, published in London by Victor Gollancz and in New York by Farrar, Straus & Young
- Both are 1953; the precise priority between the UK and US issues is not firmly established, so neither should be asserted as the sole first English without copy-specific evidence
- Publisher imprint reads Victor Gollancz, London / Farrar, Straus & Young, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Camilo José Cela (trans. J. M. Cohen with Arturo Barea) |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz, London / Farrar, Straus & Young, New York |
| Year | 1953 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English edition appeared in 1953, translated by J. M. Cohen (with Arturo Barea) and carrying Arturo Barea's introduction, published… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First English edition appeared in 1953, translated by J. M. Cohen (with Arturo Barea) and carrying Arturo Barea's introduction, published in London by Victor Gollancz and in New York by Farrar, Straus & Young. Both are 1953; the precise priority between the UK and US issues is not firmly established, so neither should be asserted as the sole first English without copy-specific evidence.

## Is this the true first?
True first of the work is the Spanish 'La colmena' (Emecé, Buenos Aires, 1951 — first published in Argentina owing to Spanish censorship). The first English edition is from 1953, issued by Gollancz (UK) and Farrar, Straus & Young (US); priority between the two same-year issues is unsettled.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Farrar, Straus paperbacks and other reprints are not the 1953 first English.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Hive* by Camilo José Cela (trans. J. M. Cohen with Arturo Barea) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-hive
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.